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New York Giants’ Antrel Rolle No. 72 on NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2014

May 22nd, 2014 at 9:00 AM By Dan Benton

It's taken quite some time, but a member of the New York Giants has finally cracked NFL Network's list of the Top 100 Player of 2014 and it should come as no real surprise who it was: defensive captain and the Giants' lone Pro Bowl representative, safety Antrel Rolle, who landed at No. 72.

"He's an aggressive player; a guy who's not afraid to come up and hit you," Maclin said.

In a season filled with struggle and letdown, Rolle truly morphed into his role as captain. Not only did he lead in the locker-room and off of the field, he never quit on it — even despite Big Blue's 0-6 start to the regular season.

Rolle ended the 2013 season with career highs in tackles (98), sacks (2), interceptions (6) and passes defensed (12).

Stuh the reason why we wouldn’t just automatically start Richburg even given he was the best center coming out is twofold.

1) He’s a rookie and Walton has NFL experience. 2) Walton was the number center in his class as well. Many look at Walton as a JAG. But it’s very possible if healthy he could just be too good not to start. It’s not out of the realm that Richburg either rides the pine for 2 years on is Snee’s short term replacement. At least we drafted a player that his capable of playing guard as well. At worse I think he’s starting somewhere next year.

I have been reading a lot and most fans seem to think this years team i gonna be in the 12-4, 10-6 range. But i have to ask to temper those expectation, i mean did we really solve our biggest problem in the OL? yes we added Schwartz, Weston, Brown and Jerry but other than Schwartz is any of these guys proven? We picked up ODB but will Cruz be enough to take over that role that Nicks played to have 2 DBs covering him allowing RR and ODB to take advantage of single coverage? I think this team still has a lot of issues in not being a negative nancy all I’m saying is lets temper expectation until the games start.

I think you are correct in tempering expectations. No matter how well the rookies may perform, experience is the best teacher. And when you look along the defensive and offensive lines you have to see the question marks.

If Cruz mans the slot, Randle and Beckham have to grow up fast. I think Beckham can, and I’m interested in whether or not Randle has.

Without a doubt the strongest part of this club is the defensive backfield. And even that could be in flux without the contribution of Will Hill. As I’ve remarked, the club is still a few bricks shy of a load.

They can finish the OL/DL and perhaps safety or TE in the next draft. After that if the key veterans are not forced to walk or lost to injury this club should be very good. This year, 7-9 to 8-8 and not much more IMHO. .

Trell is a super player and source of inspiration/leadership for this team. I really hope he’s allowed to play out his career with the Giants so long as he’s physically able to maintain his current level of play. It would be a shame to see him go and not be able to groom his replacement. Here to fore I thought his sucessor would be Hill. Now, I really don’t know. But if a really good Safety is drafted, it would be sweet to have Trell show him the ropes.

It’s long past time when ‘Trel got his due. I have to say that a small number of us were defending him back when the majority of fans were busy saying he was just a loud mouth. I’ll also note that a number of numbskulls on this site gave me grief for noting that Kurt Warner had told me that Rolle would become a team leader here because he had been THE team leader in Arizona. That was way back before he ever took a snap in Blue.

He has proven to be worth every nickel he was paid (all of you who were so convinced that was a HUGE mistake by Reese should be grateful you were so wrong), and stands as just another example of why Jerry Reese is a terrific GM even if he sometimes misses on draft picks. Think about the free agents he has brought here. Okay, Baas was a bust (because of health more than talent) and the bust of a tight end (whose name I refuse to mention) was an outright mistake. But there’s Rolle, Beason, Cruz, Canty (who was terrific for two seasons), Grant, Bernard (a terrific role-player on the cheap), Jenkins, Patterson (still VERY underrated by the fans), and the entire crop of players brought in this season who include at least two likely blue-chippers in Schwartz and Rodgers-Cromartie.

So congrats to ‘Trel, and to Reese and the Giants’ Player Personnel group. Plenty of terrific moves have been made. No one gets everything right but those guys have hit many more times than they’ve missed.

Really if it’s based on just last year Rolle is ranked way too low. He was a top 50 player and easily the best player (Hill suspension counts against him) on the 8th ranked defense. I thought Rolle was a good signing but I didn’t think he played at the level we expected until last year. However, I give him a pass not playing at as high of level as I wanted because he should never have been such a quick option at nickel CB. He should never see CB this year and I think will excel being a vet in this defense and just playing safety with these CBs.

Trel proved his worth in the 2010 cowturd game when JPP did everything plus block the winning field goal. Trel got a key interception when the boyz were trying to throw qucik slants in order to keep JPP and Tuck off Blowmo’s a$$. Trel really steped up.